John Grimek: Insightful Look & Interview with Bodybuilder John Grimek..

John Grimek was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, on June 17,1910. His mother died when he was little. John grew up with a passion to become as strong and muscular as the strongmen he admired. An influence closer to home was his older brother George, who had a set of weights and trained with some friends. Young John first started playing around with the weights-usually when no one was looking-when he was 12.

By the 1930's the little boy had become a champion weightlifter, representing the United States in the '36 Olympics, and a successful artist's model, traveling all over the Eastern and Midwestern United States. Recruited into the '40 Mr; America contest in New York City against his will, he won that show and every other bodybuilding competition he ever entered, thus gaining his reputation as the first great modern bodybuilder; An exceptional poser with a rugged, muscular physique, he retired from physique performing in 1954 but has continued to train right up to the present. In addition to his stature as the godfather of modern bodybuilding, for years he was the York Barbell Company in the eyes of the bodybuilding public, although he didn't own the company. From 1963 to '85 he was also the editor in chief of Muscular Development, which was then a York publication. In all he spent almost 50 years with the York Barbell Company. Now retired, he and his wife, Angela, still live in York, Pennsylvania, and last year they celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. They have six children, 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild.

On his initial motivation for weight training:

My first ambition was to be a lifter. At that time there was no such thing as bodybuilding or being a physique person. That was what they call a pretty boy situation-someone who would be strutting around and showing off his muscular development. That had no appeal to me. I just wanted to get the results without being in any kind of parading situation, going around saying, 'Here I am! Look at me! I've got this and that." No, that sort of thing always irked me, and anytime I encountered a person who was always strutting around, I couldn't stand 'em. I just had to walk away because I thought he was a nut. That wasn't the whole idea of training-at least not in my case. And it wasn't the idea of making any money out of the situation either. I simply wanted to get a little stronger and heavier-for, you see, I was sort of undersized when I was young.